sound design by Nathan Leigh, and Victoria S. Coady as production stage manager. The SpeakEasy cast featured Paula Plum (Joyce), Adrianne Krstansky (Phyllis), Gregory Pember (Jared) and Richard Snee (Frank). The play was produced at the Aurora Theatre, Berkeley, California from December 2012 to March 2013, the first play of Baker's to be performed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Critical reception Charles Isherwood, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "...low-key, engaging new comedy by Annie Baker, a young playwright with a probing, understated voice, making her Off Broadway debut. 'Body Awareness,' which opened Wednesday night at the Atlantic Stage 2, is not exactly a dazzler. It announces its everyday quality almost proudly, as the characters mark the passage of time by writing the days of the week on a chalkboard at the back of the stage. But its quiet rewards steal up on you... Ms. Baker’s generosity of heart, embodied most touchingly in the character of Joyce, and in Ms. Williams’s sensitive performance, invites you to overlook the occasional misstep." In reviewing the 2010 Boston production, the ArtsFuse reviewer wrote: "Annie Baker’s characters strip themselves down to their raw emotions: this is a play where characters don’t remove their clothes but the walls they’ve built to protect their inner selves. Essentially, the body awareness the script explores is not a matter of a healthy self image but a more nurturing awareness of the bodies and souls around us." The reviewer of the 2012 California production for the sfgate called the play "hilarious" and noted the "...smart, provocative dialogue and even more pointed silences..." In a review of a 2012 production at Theatre J, Washington, D.C. in The Washington Post, Nelson Pressley wrote: "The result in the easygoing 'Body Awareness' is indeed very funny, skewering everything from the professor’s pretensions to the blunt sex talk Frank delivers to Jared... Baker’s dialogue is tart and personable, with just enough unexpected twists in the characterizations to keep you leaning forward... Baker is fast becoming one of the country’s more popular playwrights... and it may be because she has a lovely ability to comically mock types and trends while exposing the raw seams in her characters." Awards and nominations Nominations Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Peter Friedman), 2009 Outer Critics Circle Award, John Gassner Award, 2008-2009, Presented for